. >> under current law on january 1st, 2013, there's going to be a massive fiscal cliff of large spending cuts and tax increases. i hope that congress will look at that and figure out ways to achieve the same long-run fiscal improvement without having it all happen at one date. >> there's still significant distance between the two sides, but negotiations continue. there's still time left to reach an agreement. and we intend to continue negotiations. >> and so, here we are, new year's eve, and the country counts down to popping champagne corks, the ball dropping in times square, and going over the fiscal cliff. if congress fails to act in the remaining hours of 2012, taxes will go up on all americans and a series of mandatory government spending cuts will kick in. hello, new year. hello, new recession. after two years of missing self-imposed deadline after self-imposed deadline, all eyes were on the senate over the weekend as the house's failure to even bring a plan to a vote left it up to the upper chamber to find a way out. vice president biden who had remained on the sidelines in this r